One More Patrol
by allodapon
Summary: A few years later Adrien comes back to Paris to visit after studying business in New York. Not wanting to stay at his fathers house, he rooms with Marinette and Alya in their apartment. Aged up. Rated T, but might change to M in later chapters.
1. Back to Visit

**Notes:**

 **This is my first fanfiction. I hope you like it! Also, please let me know if you have any suggestions. I honestly haven't written fiction in about 2 years so I'm a little rusty. Thanks!**

* * *

The wind whipped through his hair as he walked on the tarmac, the air freezing his breath as he exhaled in exhilaration. He set his luggage down by the cart and walked to get on the small jet from New York to Paris. He regretted using the family's private jet and being so flashy, but he couldn't wait to get back and see his friends after a semester of studying business in America. As he settled down in the jet for the long flight he pulled out his phone to see a new message from Nino.

N – [I hear you're coming back for a visit?]

 **A – [Yeah! I'm boarding right now and I'll be there soon, I'll let you know when I land]**

N – [Sounds good dude]

He put his phone away and readied for the long flight ahead of him.

* * *

"I don't know why you're so nervous about this, Mari. It's not like we aren't all waiting for him" teased Alya.

"I-I don't know. We haven't seen him in 4 months what if he forgot about us." Marinette stammered, fidgeting with her hands and eventually resting them on her lap.

"Oh come on I haven't even seen him in 4 months guys. He remembers us." Nino paused, then decided to continue teasing Mari, "We will be at the airport soon to see him, calm down. Don't want any akumas over here, do we?"

"Alright…" Marinette said tightly, not responding to Nino's poor taste in jokes. "But don't expect me to instantly fall for him again. I finally got over him and moved on."

Alya and Nino shared a look in the front seat of the car before turning back to the road in front of them. After breaking up their sophomore year of high school, Alya and Nino had stayed friends, still looking out for each other and their mutual friends. Now past their first year of college, Marinette could see her friends had grown up, and grown together again. Mentally, she bet they would be back together before the end of the break.

* * *

Marinette woke up to Nino stating they were at the airport that Adrien would be landing at, and they all climbed out of the car, some more lethargically than others. "Mari, do you ever get any sleep? You fall asleep anytime you're in the car for more than 5 minutes and you've been sleeping during all our movie nights," worried Alya.

Marinette remembered back to the past week of fighting akuma alone. "I've just been working on my fashion projects, university life, you know how it is," Marinette blurted hoping nobody would notice that her last project was due a few weeks ago. Tikki would scold her for the lame excuse later, but for now Mari just felt a slight pinch against her skin from the kwami.

* * *

Walking down the steps of his private jet Adrien spotted a few familiar faces waiting. Not wanting to slip on the frozen ground he walked gingerly over to his friends. "Are you all excited for the holidays? I know I am." Adrien laughed while hugging his friends.

"This year we should all do something together for Christmas, isn't that right Mari?" Marinette shot Alya a threatening glare before replying.

"We should, and we could do it at our new apartment. I mean, I've been living there for a few months now that university has started but I'm never really there. Too much to do… anyways, our place? That is okay with you Alya, right?

Each of them responded positively as they walked back towards Nino's car. "Man, can you guys believe it's already been 4 months since we last saw each other?" Nino fumbled for his keys while saying this, causing a few stifled laughs from his friends. "Not funny."

* * *

The ride back to Marinette's apartment was short, and along the way they all blasted Jagged Stone and sang along, reminiscing on their younger years. Although it had been several months since they had all been together, they still all felt comfortable.

"Hey, Mari, would it be okay if I stayed at your place over the holidays? I know it very last minute, but I already checked with Alya and she said it was okay. I'd rather not stay with my father…"

"Sure, Adrien, as long as you don't mind the clutter. Luckily we have a futon in our living room." Marinette blushed slightly at the thought of Adrien staying over in the clutter that was her apartment. "Even though I'm not there much, I don't clean up enough..." She looked over at Alya who was slightly cross about it.

"I was hoping that Adrien coming over would force you to pick up your dirty clothes up from around the apartment, especially all your underwear. I know you've been working on a line of lingerie-"

"Okay that's enough." Marinette blurted as she noticed Adrien's face blush in her peripheral vision. "I got it, I'll clean up." This sparked a laugh from Alya, who also noticed Nino's face had darkened in red as well.

Marinette unlocked the door to her apartment and let Adrien in. They thanked Nino for the ride and Nino replied that they will be back soon.

 _'Maybe it will be sooner than the end of the holidays'_ Marinette thought to herself.

* * *

For the first time Adrien had been in Marinette's apartment, he could still feel how loving the space was. He could feel the air was lived in, even though she wasn't here very much. It was a cozy apartment with two rooms, Alya and Marinette's rooms, and a living room with a small kitchenette tucked into the corner. On the walls he noticed the pictures that Alya had hanging up of Chat Noir and Ladybug, and the pictures of Marinette and Alya together. "Nice apartment," Adrien said while he brought his luggage in. He noticed Marinette started to run around collecting clothes from the ground, and started to blush again.

Finally done cleaning up the living room, she realized she never responded to the compliment. "T-thanks. Alya did most of the decorating." She stood awkwardly next to the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, swaying back and forth from foot to foot, not knowing what to say.

* * *

"Uh, where would you like me to put my stuff?" Adrien said noticing how awkward she looked.

"Oh just over here next to the counter is fine. Here, let me get your bed setup." She ran back to her room to grab the extra sheets and started to put them on the bed when she heard a voice behind her laughing.

"Its fine, I can do it" He bent down and started spreading the sheets out, bent over next to Marinette. He noticed she started to blush again.

"Thanks…" She walked to the other end of the bed and started straightening the sheets before walking back to stand next to the counter. "So, how has New York been?"

"It has been okay, between the remote conferences for my father's work and school, I haven't had much time to myself. Has anything important happened while I was gone?"

"Oh, nothing much. Although it looks like our two favorite love birds are going to get back together. The ladyblog has been pretty active, although Chat Noire hasn't been around lately." Something bugged him the way she said it with almost a little venom towards Chat, towards him. Maybe he was just hearing things. She walked to the fridge, "Want anything to drink?"

"Maybe just a coke?"

"Sorry, all I have is Dr. Pepper, is that okay?" She picked up the soda from the bottom shelf and he could almost swear she bent over like that on purpose. But no, he was just imagining things. He didn't have feelings for her. This was Marinette, his best friend, his first real friend.

"You okay?" Marinette looked worried as he realized he had been staring at her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry, just a long flight and I'm kind of out of it. Mind if I head to bed early?"

"Sure, I have to head out soon and won't be back until later tonight, I have some work to finish on my latest collection due after break."

He gasped. "Already? Break barely even started for you." She looked just as pained as he felt for her.

"Yeah, it's a lot of work. But it has to get done."

"Okay, just don't stay working past midnight, don't want my friend tired for our long day together tomorrow"

She lazily replied as she headed out the door. Once the door closed and he heard her open the elevator he pulled out his phone and quickly typed out a message.

 **CN – [I'm back in town for a while, patrol? Usual spot?]**

He didn't have to wait long before he got a reply.

LB – [Beat you there!]

Plagg floated up groggily to face Adrien, knowing that from this he would get his fill of cheese. "Couldn't you have just gone to sleep like a normal person? If we are going out can I have some Camembert?"


	2. Memories Revisited

**Notes:**

 **I was not expecting so many people to like this. For my first fictional writing in so long I am so happy that people liked it! Please please please, if you have any suggestions or notice anything that doesn't make sense please PM me and I'll fix it as soon as possible. I also hope to get chapters out once or twice a week, depending on my schedule for the week.**

* * *

"Claws out!" Adrien said to a now empty room. A flash of green light could be seen in the apartment as Adrien transformed into Chat Noir. It had been months since he had transformed and it was as if a weight had been lifted off of him. It was comforting feeling the familiar weight of his skintight suit around him. He looked out the window, seeing nobody he opened it and swung out onto the rooftop.

Chat flew across the rooftops and bounded from roof to roof, feeling the pounding of his feet beneath him. The excitement that ran through his body pushed him to run faster to see his lady again. He ran to the building next to their usual spot just in time to see Ladybug land on the roof and look around, not spotting Chat. He landed behind her with a small disturbance of air, and tapped on her shoulder.

"Chat!" she whipped around and flung out her arms for an embrace, recognizing halfway through that Chat had a surprised reaction on his face. She pulled her arms back and held crossed one arm in front of her. Looking off to the side she said, "Sorry, I've just been fighting akuma alone and it's been tiring…"

"I understand, you paw-sitively missed me" Chat said with a smirk, closing the distance between them for an embrace. After a second of shock, Chat felt Ladybug's arms wrap around his chest. "This kitten has missed you every mew-ment he was gone. How about a welcome back kiss?" Chat winked as she pushed him away, rolling her eyes.

"I see not much has changed about your cat-titude. Still my flirty kitty." Ladybug said as a shocked Chat just stood there staring. Ladybug started to walk away and looked over her shoulder before saying, "Let's make this patrol a race." She bounded from the rooftop onto the next and Chat gazed on with admiration before following after her.

The wind whipped past them as they ran, Ladybug always a little ahead of Chat. Chat saw her destination ahead of them and made his way next to her, still speeding across the rooftops. He grabbed her hand to stop her and pulled her close to his side. She wrapped her arms around his side as he used his staff to propel them to the 3rd landing of the Eiffel Tower. They landed with a soft thump as they both caught their breath.

"I would call that a tie" a tired Chat exhaled between breaths. His arm was still wrapped around Ladybugs waist, holding her tight next to him. This felt right, his lady by his side while protecting Paris. He watched her as she looked toward the horizon, watching the twinkle of the city lights reflect off her eyes. After a few moments they both dropped their arms and took a step back. Chat started scratching the back of his head, "Sadly, we have to wrap our patrol up early for the night. I'm expected back soon."

"Alright, I can finish up here if you want," Ladybug replied with a grin on her face. "It was nice seeing you again chaton." She turned and ran to the edge to jump off, only to turn midair to watch Chat as she fell.

* * *

Alya – [I will be spending the night at Nino's. Don't wait up for us tonight ;) just a warning]

 **M – [I knew it. I also did not need to know.]**

"Adrien, just a warning, Alya looks like she will be staying in Nino's room tonight, so we won't be seeing them" Marinette said in an almost suggestive tone as she walked in the door to find Adrien working on his laptop with a few papers spread on the kitchen counter. "Looks like you've been busy."

"I still do have work to do over break, sadly. The Agreste brand is constantly needing work…" Adrien replied lazily, seemingly lost in thought.

Hating to see him in his sad state she came up with a plan. "Need a distraction?" Not waiting for an answer she grabbed his hand and pulled him to look at the pictures hanging up on the walls. "You've been gone for a while so I bet Alya won't mind if I show you snapshots of what has been going on without her here." She pointed to the one in front of her, "This one is from when Alya and I went to one of Nino's DJ sets. Luckily, he was able to get us backstage passes and we got to watch from the side." The picture in front was a nicely lit picture which appeared to be taken by one of the staff of the event. Alya and Marinette stood next to each other as lights shot out behind them on stage to light up the crowd and Nino.

"What's this one?" Adrien said as he moved away and pointed to another picture.

"That was one of the best pictures Alya got of Ladybug and Chat Noir together, the day before he left." Marinette felt the pressure of the emotions involved with the picture boiling back up. She could feel the heat pricking the back of her eyes so she moved onto the next picture hanging on the wall and started recalling when it was taken. "This one was of all of us together over the summer, it's one of my favorite pictures. But you definitely remember it."

The picture showed a bathing suit clad Nino, Alya, Adrien and Marinette as they all stood by a pool, water splashing up onto them at the same time. All of their faces showed the surprise of getting wet and at the same time trying not to get the phone wet.

"Yeah, I remember that. One of my last days in Paris, right before that akuma that almost destroyed the Eifel Tower, again." Adrien seemed lost in thought as Marinette watched his face. "It was a good day, other than ruining Alya's phone."

Laughing with her hands on her sides, Marinette said, "She was pretty pissed at that kid splashing us. It took almost a week for her to cool down about it. She kept going on and on about how she had to get a new phone and took time out of her summer to set all up for the Ladyblog again." Calming down a bit from laughing, Marinette saw the admiration in Adrien's smile and laugh as she retold stories he'd most definitely already heard. "Well, now that it's well past one in the morning I think it's time for bed for me. I'll let you get back to work if you need to." She turned to walk back to her room, and before she could take a step Adrien caught her arm and turned her around.

"Thank you. It's been a long time, almost 4 months since I've been with friends. And thank you for letting me stay here, I know it's not ideal."

"It's no problem, really" Marinette gave a polite smile, feeling the heat bubble up to her cheeks. After a few moments, Marinette realized she had been staring at his bright green eyes, looking for even a hint of… something. She wasn't sure what but she had been looking for something. He reluctantly let go as she turned back to go into her room. As she walked in she gently closed the door behind her, semi-aware of Adrien's eyes on her as she walked.

She leaned against the closed door, thinking to herself. _'I am definitely not falling for him again. No, this is Adrien, one of my best friends. He can't charm me with his perfect smile or his amazing laugh or his amazing body… No stop. Shit. Shitshitshit.'_ She stood all the way back up and decided to change into her pj's, fleece pants with green paw prints patterned over them and a grey hoodie with her university logo on it. She pulled her clothes off and threw them on the ground next to her bed before taking off her bra and flinging it into the same pile. Feeling much better, albeit cold, she pulled the hoodie over her head and pulled her pants on.

Wanting to finish getting ready for bed she walked to the door and opened in quietly, not wanting to disturb Adrien's work. What she saw was not him working, but him changing into his pajamas as well. The sight of his bare chest caused a blush to cover even her chest as he caught sight of her gazing at his body. She never imagined the muscle that rippled beneath his clothing would be even close to as defined as she could see it now.

He stood there, not sure what to do other than take the shirt he was holding in his hand and awkwardly put it back on. "Well, get a good view?"

"I uh- I just. I was going to-" Marinette stammered through her embarrassment. She quickly ran past him into the bathroom and slammed the door significantly harder than she meant. _'Well, that was horrible.'_ Not sure what else to do, she picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste and finished getting ready for bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes:**

 **Wow, so far I've gotten over 1k visitors over the past week. I was not expecting this to be popular at all. I got really busy this week with midterms, projects and final projects all coming up, so I'll update when I can. Sorry for the shorter chapter, I decided it was better to get what I have out rather than wait another week.**

Marinette put the cover over her toothbrush and set it in the cup next to the sink before grabbing the sink on either side to support herself. Still in disbelief of what just happened, she ran through her memories over and over seeing Adrien flirt with her. He did flirt with her, right? Why did she get so flustered at the sight of Adrien only half clothed?

' _Oh god did I stammer again. Dammit. I've seen him shirtless before why was that so bad.'_ She thought to herself before deciding to open the door slowly. Adrien was sitting on the bed with his, thankfully clothed, back towards her. Even though she was being quiet he must've heard her and turned around with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about embarrassing you like that. I didn't really think before I spoke. Will you forgive me?" Adrien started scratching the back of his head and looked genuinely concerned for her. Not wanting to make it even more awkward than it already was, them being alone together in her apartment after both of them saying something they regretted, she decided to say something back.

"Yes, although I would've preferred it if your shirt stayed off," she said with a wink before walking to her room without looking at him again and closed the door behind her with a look over her shoulder to see him sitting there with his mouth on the floor. She laughed and turned around to explain. When she could get her laugh under control she could still see the shock written all over his face and she was thrown into another fit of laughter. "Did you forget how to laugh?" She said through her giggles.

"I was just really not expecting that. Okay then." He started to crack a smile and Marinette calmed down to smile back. "Well, I'm going to go to bed, it's pretty late and we have a long day of shopping ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight Marinette, thanks again for letting me stay."

"It's no problem at all, I'm glad you were able to come back and visit me- us. Visit us," Marinette stumbled over her words again and then took a deep breath, calming herself. "I'm going to go to bed too, night Adrien. If you need anything just knock," she said with a polite smile and went back into her room and shut the door behind her.

Adrien woke to sweet dreams of Marinette's laugh and smile. He fumbled in the dark for his phone on the floor next to him and pulled it up to be greeted by a much too bright screen. The clock said 6 in the morning. Even after a year, his father's parenting still woke him up at 6. He only got four and a half hours of sleep. He sat up and decided to root through the fridge for some cheese, knowing how loud Plagg would complain if he didn't get his morning cheese. Luckily he found some string cheese.

He nudged Plagg and sat the cheese next to the half sleeping kwami. "It's no Camembert but it's cheese and it's all I could find." Plagg hungrily grabbed the cheese and started eating, seeming only half awake through his mouthfuls. Adrien lightly laughed at the thought of Plagg and his sleep eating habit.

Plagg flew into Adrien's bad with his cheese at the sound of the door opening. Adrien looked up to see Marinette rubbing her eyes and stretching in the doorway, her shirt riding up a little with her stretching. He could feel the heat rising to the tips of his ears at the sight of her stomach showing.

"Good morning Marinette!" Adrien said excitedly. Marinette mumbled something unintelligible back before walking to the fridge to get out milk and cereal. "I see you also didn't get much sleep. Why are you up?"

"Some dumb visitor was shuffling around in the fridge rather loudly."

"Oh… Sorry."

"It's fine. We can just get a head start on shopping today now." Marinette poured her cereal and her milk before putting it all back. "Did you want anything to eat?"

Looking at the cereal he decided to buy something while out later that day. "No, I'm good. I'll get something warm out. It's pretty cold out. I could buy you something if you want?"

"No, but thanks for the offer," she said with a smile. "When I'm done with my food I'm going to get ready and shower."

Embarrassed at the thought of her in the shower, he blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Mind if I take a shower first since you're still eating?"

"Go for it," she mumbled in between bites.

After waiting in line for 10 minutes Adrien finally picked up his cheap breakfast and was ready to go shopping. "Let's go in there." Adrien pointed to a small boutique and started directing her over. He still hadn't dropped his arm from around her shoulders from when she was cold earlier. The weight of his arm sent shivers down her spine and caused a warmth to spread out from it.

They walked into the shop and she instantly recognized the merchandise.

"So, I know you're a big fan of Chat Noir, even though you try to keep it under wraps." He said with a wink as he opened the door for her. He dropped his arm from around her as he walked past her to pick up a small black pillow with a green paw print on it. He pulled it up to his chest and turned around to show it off to her with a big grin.


End file.
